7.15.2005

They Finally Said It Out Loud.....

Sen. Kanavas: Is It Time to End the UW System?
7/15/2005
Contact: Senator Ted Kanavas
(608) 266-9174

(Madison) Ju1y 15, 2005 - Senator Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield) today questioned the need for continuing the UW System and speculated that autonomous institutions could be more innovative and productive.

"It may be time to end the UW System and allow the individual campuses to stand alone, competing with each other for students."

Read it all here:

http://wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=40752

The UW System is the gem of the state. The heart of our progress.

Now, here is the funny thing about his wish to end the UW (from his biography):

While attending the University of Wisconsin, Ted majored in political science where he was exposed to another form of community service, elective politics.

http://www.legis.state.wi.us/senate/sen33/news/index11.htm

Just like the Madison Republicans - after they get their use out of it, it is no longer necessary.

Hypocrite alert!

Great Cartoon

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/uclickcomics/20050715/cx_db_uc/db20050715

7.14.2005

So Much for His 2004 'Straight-Talker' Hype....

Bush honesty rating drops to lowest point

The survey, which was conducted from July 8-11 among 1,009 adults, and which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, finds that respondents, by a 49 percent-to-46 percent margin, disapprove of Bush’s job performance.

Furthermore, only 41 percent give Bush good marks for being “honest and straightforward” — his lowest ranking on this question since he became president. That’s a drop of nine percentage points since January, when a majority (50 percent to 36 percent) indicated that he was honest and straightforward.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8561443/

More on Plame/Rove Aftermath

Written by Larry Johnson, associate of Plame's:

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/13/04720/9340

For starters, Valerie Plame was an undercover operations officer until outed in the press by Robert Novak. Novak's column was not an isolated attack. It was in fact part of a coordinated, orchestrated smear that we now know includes at least Karl Rove.

Valerie Plame was a classmate of mine from the day she started with the CIA. I entered on duty at the CIA in September 1985. All of my classmates were undercover--in other words, we told our family and friends that we were working for other overt U.S. Government agencies. We had official cover. That means we had a black passport--i.e., a diplomatic passport. If we were caught overseas engaged in espionage activity the black passport was a get out of jail free card.

A few of my classmates, and Valerie was one of these, became a non-official cover officer. That meant she agreed to operate overseas without the protection of a diplomatic passport. If caught in that status she would have been executed.

The lies by people like Victoria Toensing, Representative Peter King, and P. J. O'Rourke insist that Valerie was nothing, just a desk jockey. Yet, until Robert Novak betrayed her she was still undercover and the company that was her front was still a secret to the world. When Novak outed Valerie he also compromised her company and every individual overseas who had been in contact with that company and with her.

According to the US Ambassador to Niger (who was commenting on Joe's visit in February 2002), "Ambassador Wilson reached the same conclusion that the Embassy has reached that it was highly unlikely that anything between Iraq and Niger was going on." Joe's findings were consistent with those of the Deputy Commander of the European Command, Major General Fulford.

At the end of the day, Joe Wilson was right. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It was the Bush Administration that pushed that lie and because of that lie Americans are dying. Shame on those who continue to slander Joe Wilson while giving Bush and his pack of liars a pass. That's the true outrage.

Let's not forget the consequences of Rove's actions...

Leak of Agent's Name Causes Exposure of CIA Front Firm
By Walter Pincus and Mike Allen

Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 4, 2003; Page A03

The leak of a CIA operative's name has also exposed the identity of a CIA front company, potentially expanding the damage caused by the original disclosure, Bush administration officials said yesterday.

The inadvertent disclosure of the name of a business affiliated with the CIA underscores the potential damage to the agency and its operatives caused by the leak of Plame's identity. Intelligence officials have said that once Plame's job as an undercover operative was revealed, other agency secrets could be unraveled and her sources might be compromised or endangered.

A former diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity said yesterday that every foreign intelligence service would run Plame's name through its databases within hours of its publication to determine if she had visited their country and to reconstruct her activities.

"That's why the agency is so sensitive about just publishing her name," the former diplomat said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A40012-2003Oct3

Our Opposition's Money....

Petri has $900,000:

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?cycle=2006&cid=N00004426

Underheim has $900

http://elections.state.wi.us/financereport_candidate_all.asp

Dean on Rove...

...in Madison!

Bush said in 2003 that he would fire anyone in his administration involved in the leak, and the White House has been on the defensive since the latest news reports showing Rove may have been involved.

"Now we're going to find out, Mr. President, if you'll keep your word: who do you value more, Mr. President, do you value intelligence operatives defending the United States of America or do you value political operatives from Texas?" Dean told a crowd of 500 in a downtown Madison theater.

"Who do you value more, Mr. President, the security of the American people, or your political cronies? Will you keep your word?"

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/12126172.htm

Proud to Have Him as Our Chair...

Wednesday night may have been one of those rare occasions when a crowd was already boiling before Howard Dean gave a speech.

Not that the chairman of the Democratic National Committee calmed them down. He left a group of more than 700 people cheering after his short talk in the Orpheum Theatre on State Street.

This was after state Democrats barely avoided a fiasco, having rented only the theater lobby - capacity less than 150 - for the short-notice "grassroots" fundraiser.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=46832&ntpid=4

Repercussions of War....

Iraqi civilian casualties
By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Published July 12, 2005

BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi humanitarian organization is reporting that 128,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion began in March 2003.
Mafkarat al-Islam reported that chairman of the 'Iraqiyun humanitarian organization in Baghdad, Dr. Hatim al-'Alwani, said that the toll includes everyone who has been killed since that time, adding that 55 percent of those killed have been women and children aged 12 and under.

'Iraqiyun obtained data from relatives and families of the deceased, as well as from Iraqi hospitals in all the country's provinces. The 128,000 figure only includes those whose relatives have been informed of their deaths and does not include those were abducted, assassinated or simply disappeared.

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050712-122153-5519r

How is your Congessmember responding:

John Nichols: State Dems rate high in peace report

Two Wisconsin representatives, Madison's Tammy Baldwin and Milwaukee's Gwen Moore, are among the most consistently anti-war members of the current Congress.

The Peace Majority Report, an online publication that works with a broad array of anti-war groups from Veterans for Peace to Military Families Speak Out and Pax Christi, has developed a scorecard that reviews the votes of members of the U.S. House and Senate on issues of war and peace.

Baldwin, who is usually considered to be the most anti-war member of the Wisconsin delegation, earned an impressive score of 89 percent

But Baldwin fell slightly behind Moore, who was elected last fall and so far is maintaining a 92 percent pro-peace score.

Sen. Russ Feingold earned a solid 77 percent pro-peace rating, while Democrat Sen. Herb Kohl had 62 percent.

Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wausau, rated a credible 72 percent.

Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, the most conservative Democrat in the Wisconsin delegation, clocked in with a less-impressive 53 percent

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, scored only 21 percent.

Rep. Tom Petri, R-Fond du Lac, got 20 percent.

Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay, was at 13 percent.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Menomonee Falls, brought up the rear with just 12 percent.

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/index.php?ntid=46897&ntpid=1